Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) has joined ITF, the technology facilitator for the global oil and gas industry, to help drive new solutions forward with other major oil and gas players in the region.
The government and industry owned company believes technology is the key to securing and maximising reserves and delivering Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR).
Sultan Al-Shidhani, study centre manager for PDO said: “Joining ITF provides us with the opportunity to address the technology challenges we are facing in a joined up approach with other operators.
“Oil in Oman is becoming more challenging to develop with a rising number of EOR and sour (hydrogen sulphide) projects, so technology has a growing role to play. We believe that collaborating on joint industry projects will help to bring forward the technologies that can assist continued recovery.”
The company joins other high-profile Middle East members including Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) and Saudi Aramco in joining ITF in order to support international technology development.
The agreement reinforces ITF’s commitment to the Middle East after it set up an office in Abu Dhabi in 2011.
Ryan McPherson, ITF’s regional director in the Middle East and Asia Pacific welcomed PDO’s membership. He said: “This is an important signing for us as growing our membership in the Middle East is crucial to funding the game-changing technologies that will make the biggest difference in this environment. We understand that operators are facing the prospect of increasingly complex projects and believe that ITF will play a major role in solving some of those challenges.”
ITF is planning to launch a Gulf Cooperation Chapter this year with Middle East operators, with the task of focusing mainly on setting and solving regional technology challenges.
ITF members share funding and risk on bringing forward new solutions through joint industry projects (JIPs). Innovators are offered up to 100% funding to develop their technology and retain full intellectual property rights.
To date ITF has launched more than 170 JIPs from early stage projects through to field trials and commercialisation. ITF aims to secure a further £50 million to launch 40 JIPs per year by 2015.
